In the U.S. Pat. No. 6,508,828, which is assigned to the present assignee, a sealing device is disclosed for sealing a puncture hole in a vessel wall. The sealing device comprises an inner sealing member, an outer member, and a retaining member. The inner sealing member is adapted to be positioned at the inner wall of a vessel, while the outer member is adapted to be positioned at the outer wall of the vessel. In use, the inner and outer members are sandwiching the vessel wall, and are held together by the retaining member to thereby seal the puncture hole in the vessel wall. The retaining member and the outer member are thereby held in place by friction acting between the retaining member and the outer member. The contents of U.S. Pat. No. 6,508,828 are hereby incorporated herein by reference.
Other examples of sealing devices that comprise an inner member and an outer member, which are held together by an elongated retaining member, such as a suture or filament, can be found in, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,593,422 and 5,620,461. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,342,393, the retaining member is in the form of a stem that extends from the inner member.
Although at least a sealing device designed according to the teachings of U.S. Pat. No. 6,508,828 in practice has proven to work very well, its sealing function can be improved, and in particular the friction locking between the retaining member and the outer member can be enhanced.